Does this sound like panic/anxiety?

I am a 32 year old mother of three. I was diagnosed with MVP when i was 14. I was on inderal for years. About a year ago my doctor took me off the medication because he said i had 3 normal EKG's. That i just ran a rapid heart rate. Since I have been off my medication i have noticed that what my family thinks is Panic Attacks/Anxiety. I have been through alot in the past years and always am stressing about something. I want to stay home all the time because of how i feel when i go out. I get shaky at just the thought of leaving the house. Although, I still have to go out. When i leave i will start to feel shaky, and the further i go away from my house the worse it will come on. I will go into a store, and i will began to feel real shaky, my face will get hot, and my eyes will feel funny. They get like twitchy or something, its hard to explain. Like i cant see clearly. I will " hurry" and pay...i feel like i have to get out of the store asap. I feel like people are staring at me, when this happens. I am afraid that i am going to pass out, because i get so lightheaded, but i haven't. I just hurry out the store, and rush home. I do wake up in the mornings shaky, sometimes at the thought that i have to leave. I have been grouchy at home, and when im home my eyes feel tired. I make excuses not to even leave home, but with small kids i have too. I know when i was on this medication, i never felt this way. I do have asthma also. This is affecting my life. I avoid situations, or going anywhere. I cant relax much at home, my body feels anxious but my eyes feel tired.

[LivingInHope]

Part of it sounds like anxiety related disorder called agoraphobia.  You can get rapid heart beat, shaking and flushed face with panic and light-headedness can come with hyperventilating.  That said, you should try to see if there are any underlying medical conditions contributing to your symptoms.  And your visual disturbance and eye tiredness doesn't sound like typical panic attack to me.  You should go to an opthamologist.

And perhaps a trip to the neurologist and possibly an EEG would be in order.  Your thyroid function and cortisol levels should be checked to see if you are suffering from hyperthyroidism and or high cortisol levels.  

You should get a holtor monitor and find out if you have constant tachycardia, or if there is some pattern to it- for instance, it gets worse when you get up after sleeping or in being in an upright position versus sitting or laying.  (You might look at the dysautonomia forum on medhelp for more info).  If you have orthostatic intolerance, this can cause light headedness and feelings like you are going to faint.  If your blood pressure also goes way high with the rapid heart rate, you may want to get pheochromocytoma ruled out with a plasma free metanephrines fasting blood test.

  You should get your fasting blood sugar checked, as low blood sugar can make a person feel shaky as well.  If all medical underlying conditions are properly ruled out instead of a doctor dismissing you right off with no testing as just a psychological problem, then you may want to consider going to a psychiatrist to see if there is some medicine he can prescribe to help you function more normally.  If you are a Christian, prayer and getting Biblical counsel is important.

[dtsambasis]

Wow, your response kind of scared me a little. In the anxiety/panic forum they have stated that they have had eye problems with panic attacks. That is the only time that i get them. I have been going through so much lately...i dont know i will get them checked.

[keldenton]

I have sinus tachycardia and depression and when I went off both of my meds when I was pregnant with both my kids I went through the same thing you are talking about. I was like that before I was on the meds just not as bad as when I was pregnant and went off them after a few years of taking them. I take Prozac 20mg and Atenolol 20mg and I am great, it might not work for you but I would keep going to the Dr. until you get an answer and some form of treatment , I know it is no fun to live like that. If your heart rate is like mine that's why you feel wired even though your tired. I pray you will find an answer. Good luck!

[dtsambasis]

I had one person tell me that it could be this wrong with me, and that wrong with me, and i was really starting to freak out even more. Its really nice to hear though that i am not alone in these symptoms. However, i hate to see anyone feeling like i do. Its really starting to get to me bad. My husband is a moody person, and i went through years of him yelling early in the morning, it went on for years. Still going on...and now when i wake up, i am automatic shaky...i dont shake through the night when i am sleeping though. I have been though so much in the past 9 years that i really think that its catching up to my body. I havent been wanting to do much of anything, because i dont feel good. So now he thinks i am lazy. i have tried to tell him what i am feeling but he just laughs and says oh stop making excuses. So i just go on, and dont tell him anything.

[LivingInHope]

I don't want to scare you.  But before simply attributing all your symptoms to being psychological strictly in nature, you should make sure their isn't a medical condition contributing to your inability to see clearly.  In the past, I had many, many panic attacks, but visual inability to see clearly during them and eye tiredness afterward were not a part of my panic symptoms.  So, I was basing it on not sounding typical of my own experience.  I'm sorry I worded it the way I did.  I would think a nervous twitch of the eye could make your eye tired, but do you feel like it is a nervous twitch or is it happening on its own, apart from your volition?

A few years after I was having all those panic attacks, being stressed out, I discovered with testing I had postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and a few years after that, a pituitary tumor was discovered (may be shrinking from latest MRI).   And pituitary tumors I've read can contribute to emotional disturbances.   I can't say if any of that might have contributed to my panic attacks back in the past or not, but they may not have helped the situation if they were present when I didn't know it.   The tachycardia I have, even with no panic can make me feel very wired.

My loved one got out a book on the thyroid and it talked about how an imbalance could mess with your emotions- for example, hyperthyroidism could cause increased anxiety and rapid heart beat and hypothyroidism could cause depression.   This was not my issue with hyper-anxiety, since my thryoid was not hyper- but a person should make sure their thyroid is not out of wack.

If you don't have any treatable medical conditions that are contributing to your shaking first thing in the morning and not seeing clearly, I do think you should consult with a psychiatrist about the lowest possible effective dose of medicine that can help tame your symptoms some.

  

[dtsambasis]

I just went to the store tonight, i was daring. Well i cant say daring..because i have 3 younger kids and i HAVE to go out. I cant just sit here. Driving is usually a big thing for me, when i hit traffic, i get one bad. ( panic)...I feel trapped. Anyways, on the way there I was doing good, i got inside Lowe's, which i usually can not go to because its huge to me. I get in line, and I felt it coming on, my face got sooo hot, my eyes felt like they were shaking, i was struggling to see straight, got lightheaded, and shaky...i just wanted to run out the big doors. I tried to hurry the cashier as much as possible. When i got my change, i practically ran out of the store. I dont get the eye shaking at home, only when i go out in public. On the way home what do you know i was getting every light RED...i would almost panic sitting in the line of cars. I was sweating.....I made it home but now my face is still hot. Sometimes, i will come home and get chills..real bad. Tonight i also have a slight headache now, and my face feels flushed.

[LivingInHope]

I'm glad you got out- but until you can get these panic attacks settled, it probably is not safe to be doing the driving, not only for yourself but others as well.   So, if you have to drive once more, please make it to a doctor's office to get help!  

A lot of what you describe does sound like panic attack.  Flushing and shakiness can happen with them.  You might look up nystagmus and see if that sounds like your shaky eyes.  The questions are:
are you willing to go in and find out if there are any underlying medical conditions, such as the kinds I mentioned previously, contributing to these attacks,
and are you going to go to a psychiatrist to try to get medication so you can function better;
are you trying to takes some deep breaths when you start to feel that way, and
most importantly, if you have received Christ as your Lord and Saviour, will you cast your cares upon the Lord, for He cares for you when you first start to feel the warning signals that panic is about to grip you once again?
Please have someone take you to get medical and psychiatric evaluation.  Please don't let fear continue to rob you and your children of so much you could enjoy together.  I know going to a store can especially be a challenge.  It was courageous of you to make an effort.